Invitation : Event on EWC transposition in Ireland & ETUC action weeks on democracy at work
Brussels, 9 November 2021
- To the members of the ETUC's Workers' Participation & Company Policy Committee
- For information to the Member Organisations
Dear Colleagues,
The ETUC is organising several actions to promote more democracy at work, in particular a hybrid event in Dublin on the transposition of the EWC Directive in Ireland.
The actions will take place from 15/11 – 16/12/2021 and aim at supporting the initiative report in the European Parliament on More Democracy at Work. Click on the events below for more details:
17 November: Hybrid event on the transposition of the EWC Directive in Ireland (2pm– 4pm Irish time)
The event will take place at Eurofound (Wyattville Road, Loughlinstown) 2pm– 4pm (Irish time) and online.
Ireland has some of the weakest workers’ participation rights among EU countries. This is mirrored in the weak transposition of the EWC directive into national law. After Brexit, more and more UK companies are transferring their headquarters to Ireland, and so more and more workers do not fully benefit from their rights under the Directive. The case of the Kinspan Group illustrates exemplarily the difficulties with the current legislation. The event will serve as an opportunity to discuss these issues with affiliates, EWC members and local politicians.
Aline Hoffmann (ETUI) will explain problems of national transposition in the European context and combine them with the ETUC demand for more democracy at work. Dennis Sheridan (SIPTU) will report on the exact situation on the ground and how employers are shirking workers’ rights.
Senator Marie Sherlock (Labour Party) and Senator Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein Party) will tell us about the resistance in Parliament.
We hope that we can engage in a lively debate on what is going wrong in Ireland and the EU and more important, on how we can build strategies to fix it.
Breakfast in the European Parliament (16 November)
The European Parliament is currently drafting an initiative report on “More democracy at work: a European Framework for employees’ participation rights and the revision of the European Works Councils Directive”. The report is drafted by our colleague Gaby Bischoff (S&D) and should among others support our demands for a European Framework Directive on Information, Consultation and board level representation. The revision of the EWC directive also covers a small part of the report but mainly paves the way for the future report of our colleague Dennis Radtke (EPP). The committee vote will be on 18 November, the plenary will decide in December. The ETUC will meet stakeholders from the European Parliament to discuss further details ahead of the vote.
Photo Action – Mr Schmit, your mailbox is full
The ETUC will take pictures with European trade unions leaders together with the Democracy at Work logo and banners during the mid-term conference (see example above).
You will soon be able to print the banners and take a picture at home or at work. You can then send them to the ETUC.
IMPORTANT: After the vote on Gaby Bischoff’s report in the European Parliament, we will print all the pictures on postcards. We will send all of them to European Commissioner Nicholas Schmit together with our demands for a revision of the EWC Directive and a framework on information, consultation and participation.
Further information will follow soon.
Kind regards,
Isabelle Schömann
Confederal Secretary